Nearing Golden Age?

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Lost world found in Indonesian jungle

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

Tue Feb 7, 12:14 AM ET

 

OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists said on Tuesday they had found a "Lost World" in

an Indonesian mountain jungle, home to dozens of exotic new species of birds,

butterflies, frogs and plants.

 

It's as close to the Garden of Eden as you're going to find on Earth, said

Bruce Beehler, co-leader of the U.S., Indonesian, and Australian expedition to

part of the cloud-shrouded Foja mountains in the west of New Guinea.

 

Indigenous peoples living near the Foja range, which rises to 7,218 ft, said

they did not venture into the trackless area of 1,200 sq miles -- roughly the

size of Luxembourg or the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

 

The team of 25 scientists rode helicopters to boggy clearings in the pristine

zone.

 

We just scratched the surface, Beehler told Reuters. "Anyone who goes there

will come back with a mystery."

 

The expedition found a new type of honeyeater bird with a bright orange patch

on its face, known only to local people and the first new bird species

documented on the island in over 60 years. They also found more than 20 new

species of frog, four new species of butterfly and plants including five new

palms.

 

And they took the first photographs of "Berlepsch's six-wired bird of

paradise," which appears in 19th century collections but whose home had

previously been unknown.

 

The bird is named after six fine feathers about 4 inches long on the head of

the male which can be raised and shaken in courtship displays.

 

BIRD, BOWER, BERRIES

The expedition also took the first photographs of a Golden-fronted bowerbird

in front of a bower made of sticks, while he was hanging up blue forest berries

to attract females.

 

It found a rare tree kangaroo, previously unsighted in Indonesia. Beehler said

the naturalists reckoned that there was likely to be a new species of kangaroo

living higher altitudes.

 

The scientists visited in the wet season, which limited the numbers of flying

insects. "Any expedition visiting in the dry season would probably discover many

more butterflies," he said.

 

Beehler, who works at Conservation International in Washington, said the area

was probably the largest pristine tropical forest in Asia. Animals there were

unafraid of humans.

 

I suspect there are some areas like this in Africa, and am sure that there are

similar places in South America, he said.

 

Around the world, pristine areas are under increasing threat from expanding

human settlements and pollution. A U.N. meeting in Brazil in March will seek

ways to slow the currently accelerating rate of extinctions.

 

Beehler said the Indonesian government was doing the right thing by keeping

the area off limits to most visitors -- including loggers and mineral

prospectors.

 

The scientists cut two trails about 2.5 miles long, leaving vast tracts still

to be explored.

 

 

 

 

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